#85 Jon Roberts

On Episode 85 of the More Than The Scoreboard Podcast, I sit down with Jon Roberts, Head Football Coach at Mountain Pointe High School in Arizona. Coach Roberts shares his coaching journey from youth football fields in Casa Grande to leading one of Arizona’s most storied programs, while discussing the importance of culture, leadership, accountability, and building genuine relationships with players. We dive into the legacy of great coaches, why character development must come before recruiting and offers, the role of community in sustaining successful programs, and what it truly means to be a transformational coach in today's game. This is a powerful conversation for coaches, parents, athletes, and anyone passionate about developing people beyond the scoreboard.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

I'm I appreciate you jumping on.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

No, no, I I big deal. Yeah, yeah. As soon as you told me, I was like, hell yeah. Yeah, absolutely, man. Like, um, you know, your father was instrumental um in my development as a high school player as well.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Let me go ahead and introduce you real quick, John. Um, John Roberts, head football coach at Mountain Point High School in Phoenix, Arizona, um, Tempe Union School District, which I know well. We we have a lot of connections we've been talking about. Um, but but before we get started, and I ask you some questions. Just give everybody an idea of kind of kind of your coaching journey, how you started, where you started, and then kind of fill in the blanks for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

So um I started, uh it was about uh 2011-2012. I started how most guys start um in the valley. I uh my I was in between jobs. I did about 10 years of sales, marketing, and finance jobs in that in that category. Um after the market crash of 2008-2009, um, I was without a job. And um I was picking up like remedial sales jobs here and there. Um my cousin Keon Grays, um, he was coaching my little cousin, his son, in an organization called the Titans, which ended up becoming Arizona Flames. And so at the time, you know, I'm depressed because I couldn't find a job. He calls me up and he's like, hey man, come help me. Um I gotta go get some equipment. I got a little youth camp. We got to go to Sun Valco and go pick up some stuff. So I was like, okay, we go to Sun Valco, and I'm thinking he's gonna drop me off at home after we get a bite to eat. No, he drives me to the park, and then he says, Hey man, you you're in charge of quarterbacks and wide receivers today at this camp. And then that's where the bug bit, you know, and I started coaching the little kids, and um, we ended up winning our little youth championship, and then we took that same group of kids, and you know, we won some of those mythical state championships and those little national tournaments that you go to in the spring and the fall. We won some of those. And then um I won it, I went to my mother, who at the time was, you know, she still is, but she was an educator and she was an admin at the time. And I said, Hey, mom, um, I want to be a football coach. And she said, Well, the best way that she knew how to be was to be, you know, get into a high school. So I went and got my certifications, and then I started at Vista Grande High School under Tracy Stewart. I was his offensive coordinator, and um, I was all excited about that, Corby. You know what I mean? And I'm thinking, oh man, I'm gonna be able to run this and this and the four wides. Nah, man. Um the very first gig was under center Delaware blue hen wing team.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Yeah. And I learned how to um block nine and ten man fronts, and there was no such thing as gap scheme, and everything is sweep to trap to counter, and you know, you could you know, you get a cert, um, some some beer, and they considered that exotic at the time. And we ended up going to the playoffs for the first time in that school's history. And then um after that, um, I was still coaching youth ball at the time with Keon. And then I got invited um to a 14U um sevens tournament um by uh Conrad Hamilton. He was the defensive analyst at ASU. And so when I get up there, um he asked me um where I was going with it, and I was I was in between gigs at Vista. And so he got me on with um Thomas Lewis at Chaparral, and I was with Thomas Lewis for two years. Um after about a year and a half, two years of that, um good buddy of mine who I coached with at in that Flames Youth Organization, got coached his sons, Tim Hernandez. He talked to Paul Morrow. Um, and then Paul Morrow met me when I was helping out coaching a girls' soccer game at Vista Grande at the time, and he went to when we played uh McClint talk, and then Coach Morrow ended up recruiting me on to Marcos Teniza, where I became his assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. And that was a funny story in itself because I go for an interview for that, and uh he says, Hey man, bring me your best stuff. So I come in and I bring him all these air raids and all this exotic shit, and he looks and he's like, 30 formations in a season in high school. He's like, I've never seen it done before, but if you can do it, you know what I mean? He's like, son, you could you could call my entire offense. He's like, the most I've ever gotten was 10 in. And he was like, and I had those kids for a long time. And, you know, it was a humbling experience in the beginning, but like I said, man, that that was that that was life-changing. Um, he taught me how to build a program, and a lot of people thought he had a ton of talent. A lot of Coach Morrill's um philosophies were psychological based, and and um, he always did it from a presence of unconditional love, and he was really big on character and uh, you know, always having um team building moments and bonding moments, and realizing that, you know, he taught me that coaching is a lifelong bond with your players, and you can't take anyone to higher limits if they don't know that you love them. You got you gotta tell them that you love them. And so um, you know, I took that nugget, and then um, to be honest, you know, I was I was happy being his offensive coordinator, his quarterback coach, until he was done. But unfortunately, he got diagnosed with cancer and he ended up passing away. And so I was again without a job. I had a teaching job. I was teaching at Santa Cruz Valley in Eloy. My mother was a superintendent, so I was running her alternative school and teaching PE out there. And um Rashard Davis came up and asked me, he's like, hey man, I know you like to throw the ball. He was like, but he was like, um, if you don't, if if you're still open, if you're open to it, I'd like to have you come out and be my offensive coordinator. He was like, Do you have any experience with wing-based systems? And I was like, I do. And so what we did was we just you know modernized it a little bit, but he ran a shotgun single wing, and we had a nice run out there culminating with a state championship in 2020. We ended up beating um Benson. But our hardest game of the season, uh, we had two really hard ones. One we lost to uh Jake Barrel in that Casagrande Union team, because remember that was COVID. So you get a game canceled, then you had to get another one. Well, we ended up having to play um Jake over there at Union, and they beat us. And then we had to play uh Coach Morgan, if if I remember correctly, up at St. John's, and they pushed us to the wire, man. Those boys. And then um we either win the state championship. I leveraged that into the opportunity at Vista Grande. Um, and then we grew that program from 13 kids to on average about 125, 135 kids, culminating with the 8-2 record my last year. And then we took a team, we took that team, the 8-2 team, to uh Santa Maria, California, and we beat St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria, California. And then after that, this opened up and uh I applied for it, and uh, you know, God bless me with this opportunity, and I'm just thankful that I have it right now.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

You gotta, I mean, I mean, listen, I mean, what an opportunity. And I know you know that. I mean, I'm you don't know this, but even before we started talking, like I'm a big fan. I've been following you since you got there. I don't know what it is, I don't know if it's just your branding that kind of was like, okay, you know, and I knew about you obviously from Vista Vista, but um yeah, what a great opportunity. And and and I really think I know what it's like over there being in the same district, and they need a man like you, you know. And um let me ask you a quick question. Going through your journey to get here, um, I know for me, having grown up the way that I did, and then having started as a grad assistant for six months and then full-time, you know, assistant at Missouri and then coaching in Arkansas State, when I got out of it and we moved back to Phoenix, um, three boys, I coached them in flag football, I coached them in tackle before I even got into high school. And so when I got into high school, it really um really strengthened the point. I was always a fundamental and technique guy. I was always, you know, the little things teach the basics, and that just kind of emphasized it, having coached the youth levels. Do you find yourself, and and like you said, it kind of goes into you know the 30 formations compared to what Paul said with the 10 formations um at the high school level. Um, have you found yourself always kind of in in the back of your mind? You you're always aware of, hey, we got to keep it simple, like we did in youth, and just teach the little things and teach the fundamentals every single day and try and minimize like that. Was a big thing for me, right? Our coordinators, our offensive coordinators always wanted to have you know 10 runs in per game and 20 different passes. And I'm like, no, I'm like, you have four to five base runs, run them out at all different formations, you know, you you can scheme people that way. And then in the past game, it was like, hey, we have six quick hitters, we have you know, five dropbacks, and then we have some play actions, and then our screen game.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Um that's all you need, really.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah. So do you do you, I mean, do you look back and kind of revert back to those days when you first started coaching at the youth level? And do you think it helps you?

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Well, the funny thing that I'll say is at the youth level uh we have to teach the kids how to play football. Then once they know how to play football, how to step, what, what the position is, what it entails, the techniques to tackling, to blocking, to throwing a football, to catching a football, then you start to build an offense and defense around that. And that becomes so innate as a youth coach, okay, um, it becomes secondhand. Then you get used to that, and I think the biggest trap that a coach could get into is believing that it evolves beyond that. I don't think it ever be up evolves beyond that. I think you're gonna have to do that over and over throughout your entire career. I'll use point in case is I'm currently in the situation without alluding to anything where I am stacked heavy with athletes. I have a ton of skills at key positions. Some, um, and I'm new to this, some are considered elite by the recruiting standards, right? But there are certain things, right, that they just haven't been taught because they can run by a kid, jump over him, and do those things. So now when you face a team, right, and those teams that we face that that have given Mountain Point trouble in the past, hopefully we take care of that problem in the future. But I'm being 100% transparent. Um, I told my coaches just recently, just dial it back, just teach them how to play football. I said, Because if you get that kid that's athletic and you get that kid fundamentally sound, I said, then you're gonna start to dominate and you'll start to beat the great teams over and over and over again. But if we're gonna sit back, I don't want to make the mistake of, you know, of the past and just stacking a team full of athletes and us not teaching them how to play football. In Casa Graham, man, it's not a guarantee that you're gonna have talent year after year. So how do you win? You gotta teach them how to play football. You know what I mean? Like, like you don't, like, like you have to. So, like, where I'm from, and I've and I've just kind of relayed this, um, I don't have the benefit of having outstanding youth programs surrounding my school. Um, I don't have the benefit of having, you know, uh multi-million dollar neighborhoods where NFL guys retire and they and they plant their kids there, and those kids have all the top trainers. You see what I'm saying? Um, and at Mountain Point, my experience has been a ton of support, great administration. I love the district. Um, we we got to do some more community outreach, I believe, in Awatuki to let them know that, you know, we're we're we're still Awatuki's team. And um, but at the same time, there's still that element of Casagran where guess what? I got kids from impoverished areas that are being busted in. And yes, they could probably go into the weight room and on a basketball court and do everything you're telling them to do, but ask them, do you know how to block? Do you know how to step? And I said, we got to teach our kids. So I don't think, you know, um I don't think that's ever gonna change. And I'm starting to learn my lesson, like, okay, I could go to a clinic and we can learn, you know, I could go with uh with Gus Malzone and learn 50 million ways to run snag. But guess what? If my kids can't even get out of a jam, I'm in trouble, man, no matter how good of an athlete they are. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

So percent. I I um and you brought up the you know, kids coming from different areas, and uh obviously I know, you know, kind of the history, but you replaced Eric Lauer when Eric left and and went to your um one of your guys' uh um rival schools in the district. Um I and this is just perception, I could be wrong, so correct me if I am, but I noticed that a lot of kids had been leaving Mountain Point um even before Eric left. So without asking you specifically, you know, what kind of program you stepped into, where it was at, and that kind of stuff, you obviously had rebuilding to do, correct? Yes. To an extent. So let me let me ask you this. I know you guys get kids that get busted in from South Phoenix, you get kids from Maricopa. Um, you know, there are a bunch of, like you said, a bunch of professional athletes that live in that Awatuke area. Um, so you get those, so you get a lot of diverse.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Yeah. Um you talked about love, um, but at the same time, the discipline and accountability, in order, in order for your kids to know that you love them, you have to be, you have to have discipline and you have to hold them accountable. And I know at McClintock, um, I was talking about this the other day. I, after about, you know, six months, my first year, I had a conversation with our athletic director, Jermaine Whitaker. And uh he's like, we were just talking about, he's like, you know, you really have to get to know the kids in the sense he said you know them. He said, but you got to really know where they come from, right? And because the coach before me that I replaced, you know, didn't do a good job at that. And when I walked in there, there was no discipline, there was no accountability. Guys would thought that they could show up whenever they wanted. Um, and and so I sent out a questionnaire, made all the kids sit down, ask them all about them. You know, do you work? What's your family like? Who do you live with? Do you have brothers, sisters? Blah, blah, blah. Um, and I know you have a lot of that as well. Um how do you how do you manage that discipline and accountability um to coincide with love, with loving them, being transparent, making sure that they understand that that's a part of it.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

I came in from day, I came in on day one, and the first thing that I told the boys is I coach from a bond first. The goal is to get bonded. It's not to stack this roster for the talent. It is not to get the best coaching available on my staff. Of course, I'm going to try to do that. But I don't believe that, and this is just my personal opinion on coaching, I don't believe you can take a kid to deep water if he don't trust you. And so you need to figure out a way to build that trust and build it within a certain reasonable amount of time, and so that those kids, they fully, fully trust you. Now, I say all that to say is that when I first got hired here, they all they knew Eric. Eric's a great coach. He's he's done a good job. We got kids out, he got them to college. Um, but one thing I will give him credit for is that when I got the job, he sat me down for 45 minutes and said this place needed a new voice, and I didn't know if I was gonna be continuing, and then the corona opportunity happened, and so I took, I took it. But this place needed a new voice. He was like, he was essentially done. Now, I will say that um my goal was is when I got the job, nobody knew who I was. Because as you know, the Robin's name starts in Casagran and goes down to Nogallas. Everybody knows where it is, everybody knows who my family is from Casagran down to No Gallas. Further north, uh-uh, that's ASU country. So um when I came, my birthday was, okay, um, let's make sure my seniors aren't lost in the sauce for recruiting. I gotta, I gotta get on the horn, start calling coaches. Um, but a lot of times I can't, I couldn't put an opinion on my kids. You see what I'm saying? Because I ain't never coached them before. So we took a little bit of a dip initially um with that. So I got my top seniors, and I called my one of my best friends who I played college football with in New Mexico, he's now the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Texas AM, and I drove seven of my top seniors to that cab and just got them looks. And so that helped immensely because even though they weren't gonna go to Texas AM, they had film and he started pushing it out for me to different colleges of their caliber. So that helped. Um, I also wouldn't hire a coach unless they knew exactly what they were getting into, which this is a place that has an extremely high standard. Um, in some instances, with some, they are living in the 2010s and 2013s, the Vaughn era, and they want to see it come back. So, with that being said, in order to flip a culture, we got to gain trust and we got to win. And in order to do that, right, I believe um you got to get something going like the Carl Kiefer Leadership Council, because you got to have guys that are doing it the right way, that are gonna help you enforce a standard that you can train in leadership. And then sometimes, um, you know, you don't want to, how can I say, you don't want to have your team vote on captains too early without training them in leadership. And a lot of times, if you look at my leadership, I have a lot of underclassmen there because once I get it flipped, I want to keep it flipped. I don't want to keep rehashing the same things over and over and over again. So, you know, I I I think, and I'm not, I'm not trying to put the cart before the horse. I believe we're in a good spot. Um, but yeah, there there is some rebuilding that has to be done. And a lot of it is is um, I believe is a community outreach for one, teaching our our boys acts of of of service. And then and then also I believe um we just gotta win some big games again.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

So and that'll happen. You're doing it the right way. Um You talked about your staff, you talked about you know making sure that when you hire someone, they understand what they're stepping into. Um that's a hiring the right people is a tricky is a tricky job at that level. Very tricky.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Um how important was it for you? I mean, I've looked at your staff, I don't know how much turnover you've had, but you put together a heck of a staff. Um very qualified guys that I think understood what it took from a culture standpoint, from a leadership standpoint, um you know, service standpoint, just changing lives. Um, because that's why we do it, right? I mean it it's for the wins, but we're there to change lives. Um how'd you go about assembling your staff and and what was the importance priority-wise that you placed on that?

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Number one, uh my number one question is and I'll and I'll I'm just gonna put him out there. Everybody looks at my staff, the first guy who always comes out is Legarrett Blunt. So when me and him had a conversation, I said, Man, tell me about you without the three Super Bowl rings, without the career, tell me about who you are. And he did. And what I gained from it was this this this this young man has had a storied career that everybody's known. He had an incident that he had that everybody knows. He has rebounded from that incident. He's aware that that incident has occurred. But what I think is most valuable from him is that he has a story to tell, not just about his career as far as Super Bowls, the two with Brady, the one with Nick Foles. That's not what it is. To me, I think he matches up with my um demographic of kid beautifully. So I'll say that. I have a couple kids. I have a kid right now, I'm not gonna name names, but he's 6'3, 195. He's running an electric 4'5 in the 40. He can dunk a basketball. But guess what? Due to grades in academics, he's a JUCO kid. There's nothing we can do about it. Like we've tried, he's a JUCO kid, and that's okay. But guess who else was a JUCO kid? Leguerrett Blanc. Leguerrett Blanc did what he did from JUCO all the way up. So now I have a point of reference. Hey, son, it ain't over because the coach that you like most right now, right? He did it at every level. And then Laguerre goes and he tells him about that process. That helps you. Solidify a culture. As long as we're getting kids out, regardless of level, of course, everybody wants the big one, the big D one, Power Force. I get that, man. We have a whole school district in the city. I'm not going to name names that sells parents based upon that, right? But to me, when you do that, you alienate some of the kids that need to mature a little later because you're not focused on getting them opportunity. I come from Casa Grande. I want to have a good connection with the JCs, the D2s, the D3s, the NAIAs, so I can provide opportunity for all of my kids. And so I need to have coaches that represent that too. I didn't, the Super Bowl rings were great, but guess what? I have an uncle with three, too. So I'm not really amazed by that. Do you see what I'm saying? I have pictures of me sitting on John Elway's lap as a baby and different things like that. Like I grew up in a football family, but when he told me, like, hey, John, you know, I was eating ramen noodles, man, in the JC at one time. And I'm sitting here like, okay, because I'm gonna have kids that are gonna be like that. They need to have coaches that are gonna love them and talk them through these situations. So I look at things like that.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

And the reason I asked you is because, you know, I know talking to my dad, I was at the hospital. He was in the hospital for a little over two weeks before he passed. And the first week he was, you know, completely coherent. Then the the the second week he was intubated, and so he he was not really there. But um that first week we would talk all the time, and obviously everything centered around football. And um, I remember asking him, uh I said, you know, when I become a head coach, what do you think are some of the most important things? First thing out of his mouth was um it's it's who you work for and it's who you work with. So make sure that you're that before you take a job, you're working for the right people. He said, Secondly, make sure that you surround yourself with the right people. And I said, Okay, how do you surround yourself? He said, Your coaches have to, there has to be diversity on your staff. And I'm 35 years old and I'm a white dude, so in my mind, I'm and and I said it out loud, I said, so he said, you know, I I've always believed that, you know, white, black, poly, Mexican, like, and he looked at me and he goes, no. He said, that's not the diversity I'm talking about. He said, what I'm talking about that is important, but even more important than that is that you hire guys and you surround yourself of different ages, different experiences, different cultures. And he said, because a kid that you may think you connect with for whatever reason may connect with another coach better because of their own of their experiences. He said, Everybody just assumes that a black kid's gonna connect with a black coach and a white kid's gonna connect with a white coach better. And he said, That's not true at all. It's quite the opposite. You the connection comes from experience and from cultures and share in something that you share. And so that's why I asked because you know that that was a sticking point for me. I was always trying to hire guys, and you know, we get it wrong. Yeah, you hire a guy you think you can trust, and it just doesn't fit. You you don't hire, I mean, I had an opportunity at McClintock to hire Steve Hoover, you know, 100%. And I wanted to run a certain defense, and and he his was a little bit different, and I didn't hire him, and I should have, you know, and um, but that's that's kind of why I asked. So I it's good to hear, it's good to hear that. And and um let me ask you this, because we we kind of I reached out when I saw your leadership council. Um you you already mentioned it. It's called the Carl Kiefer Leadership Council. For those that don't know, just a little backstory. Carl Kiefer, legendary Arizona high school coach, he started the program at McClintock. So when the school started, he was the first head coach. When Mountain Point became a school, when it first started, he left McClintock and went over to Mountain Point and was there the rest of his career. And when I and so I had known Coach Kiefer, you know, from my days at my dad's days at U of A, and I was just a kid. First person I reached out to when I got that job was Coach Kiefer. And he, you know, he was like, Well, I've kind of been away and no one's really invited me back. And I said, I don't care. I said this, and and so we formed this bond and we had a Carl Kiefer night every, I mean, we'd bring back teams, we'd just have a Carl Kiefer night, I mean, just to celebrate him. And now you've laid, you know, you've you've named your leadership council after him, which I think if he was still alive, would probably, you know, it would it would probably make him more happy than anything I ever did, because that's what he was talking about. And you were talking about um Coach Morrow and you know how important leadership was in character, and it was the same thing with Coach Kiefer. Um how important, how much importance do you place on that leadership council? And especially them understanding the name of the leadership council and why it's named that way.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

One of the biggest, and this is not what I'm about to say, I want to 100% say because I I know we're all in these circles, and I know it it's gonna get back and get around and get respon. It's not indicative of Laura or the previous staff. But where I am from and the family that I'm from, I'm from a football family. And part of being a football family is you know the history of the players before you, the great coaches that touch their lives, and you grow up with a renowned and a respect for them.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

You you grow up for that. I can tell you the sole reason why um my uncle played for you is because your father was willing to come to my grandfather's house on the east side of Casagrande, sit and have a meal with my grandmother, and put my grandma at ease, and that helped my grandfather um get his wish of having his boy play for your for your father. That has been told numerous times before my grandfather passed away. It was been told numerous times. Hell, we still got, you called my uncle up right now. You see my grandfather's signature on that letter of tent, my uncle Randy's signature on the letter of tent, and your father's. I say all that to say when I got the job at Mountain Point, I literally asked my kids on the team, do you know who that guy is that they named the stadium after? And nobody raised their hand. This was seniors, juniors, sophomores, right? They only knew a little bit about Norris. So how are you gonna get something rebuilt culture-wise, right? A place that has athletes continuously, regardless of who's head coach, just due to location, has had talent, right? I don't know how to flip something if the history's not revered and not taught. Like, I don't know how to do it. And I don't know how to do it. I'm not saying that it wasn't attempted. I'm not saying that it didn't. I'm not indicative of anything, so I don't want to be called after this, like, Joe, you're saying, like, no, no, no. I'm telling you the facts. So I got to flip the culture because there's a difference between um being successful sometime and being successful all the time. And my and my mentor as far as coaching was Paul Morrow. And there's people that don't even know he existed. And he won 13 in an era that was pure enrollment, and he had to take what his small town had. He couldn't sit there and promise scholarships. He couldn't sit there and and and and and get kids off of faulty promises or trying to stack youth teams. He had to get, he got what the pine trees provided him. Yep, absolutely. So I'm trusting that. And guess what? He even honored coaches that came before him up at um up in Pine Top Lakeside Blue Ridge. So I, there's no way, right, I'm gonna be able to be successful here if my kids don't know the real history of this place. My greatest victory as a high school head, as a high school quarterback, okay, was our junior year, we played Carl Kiefer. We played him here at Mountain Point. They beat us 81 to 7. Our second year, when my Uncle Randy was 80, he asked us who do you want to play for homecoming? And we said, we want to play Mountain Point. He said, Boy, y'all are crazy. Y'all lost 81 to 7. So now, but we knew because little be known, I always went to school in Cassagran, but I didn't grow up in Castlegran. I actually grew up on the South Side. Um, and then I we moved over to baseline in Hardy. My mom was always an educator in Castagrane. And then my dad, when he got um transferred from Panel, um, from Maricopa County to Panaw County, both of them were in Panell County, so I couldn't go to school here and be a latchkey kid and wait for my parents to come home at night. So I rode with mom to Casa Grand, went to elementary school, junior high, high school, and just walked to grandma and grandpa's house until they got off. So I say all that to say, my senior year, we end up playing them at homecoming. We beat them. It came down to the wire, last play. My cousin Joey makes a hell of a tackle. Coach Kiefer gets so upset, he doesn't even, you know, after the game, talk to the players, he makes them all get on the bus, put their helmets on, they roll with their pads on back to Awatuki. And so that victory, right? All of a sudden in that game, they want to know who's throwing to Joey Graves, who's handing off the ball to Tyrone Rackley and Trey Alexander. And they and that's how I got found. And the only people that knew that I existed before that, I'm being honest, was your father at Missouri and his offensive coordinator. Other than that, I was getting nothing, man. Barely a letter here or there. And so to me, um, honoring Coach Kiefer and is the same way I would honor Coach Morrow, is the same way that I would honor a lot of these guys that are um, I'm not saying they're being disrespected. You see what I'm saying? But what I am saying is it was like, come on, man, like these guys, they did it, and we're acting like because, you know, this new age is is fixated on Twitter and offers and all this stuff. Like, you can't knock a guy that that did what Carl did. You know what I mean? Like, even in Southern Arizona, like, you know, um Carlo Hernandez is back in southern Arizona, but you know, um old man Kazner just died. He had over 300 victories. Like, these are guys, that old ball coach from that era, um, I'll never forget it. I think I'm telling I'm I think I'm teaching Coach Morrow air raid offense. I think I'm teaching him some new stuff. And he keeps saying, John, it's West Coast offense. And I was like, no, it's the air raid. I was like, Mike Leach and Hal Mum, they invented this. He was like, no, every 10 years, somebody comes up with something new. With a new spend. They hit the coaching clinics, and then you spend 50 bucks for the DVD. It's the West Coast, son. And when I started to learn these little things, and then, you know, um Coach Morrow, he had he had a huge amount of respect for Kiefer. He he told me who his close friends were with um Coach Rate and Coach Gurren. And then I meet him, and all these guys are preaching the same stuff, character first. It ain't about stacking your teams with talent. And don't always pick, you know, the flashy defense or the flashy offense. Know enough knowledge so that you can tailor things to your kids, right? Like, these are nuggets that we're not getting anymore on these clinics because they're not being appreciated anymore. But my kids are gonna appreciate it. They're gonna know Carl Kiefer, they're gonna know Norris Vaughn, and they're gonna know some of the principals that built this place so that they could have pride when they're successful. And hopefully I'm still here and this is fully white. They come and check on me, man. Make sure I'm good. You know what I mean? So, you know.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Well, no, you know, you you it's funny you say that. I mean, hey, you know, in ten years ago when I got that McClinch job, same thing. Same thing. That helmet right there, that was one of my first priorities because it was blue at the time. And I'm like, now we're going back to white.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

I remember that. Yeah. I was like, what the hell is that?

SPEAKER_01 34:23

We're going back to white. Because that's it's the tradition. And regardless of if you know, you know, if you're not of age or your parents, like it's important, right? It's it's important to understand where you're at. I mean, you know, when you go to USC and you play ball at USC, you understand really, really quick. When you go to Iowa and play ball at Iowa, you understand really, really quick. Even those guys that are playing for Farands who's been there 24, 25 years, and Coach Fry was only there 21, 22, they know who Hayden Fry is. Absolutely. You know, they know why they walk out of the tunnel arm in arm, interlocked, you know, seven across and however many deep. They know why that is so important because everybody around there remembers the community knows. So the more honor you place on that, and and it's a great character thing. I mean, you, you know, in in what you're talking about, John, it's why I'm doing what I'm doing now. And I don't know if I've even shared it with you, but the the the LLC, the MTTS sports group, you know, it's built off leadership and character and culture and staff alignment systems. And then I think I just mentioned it, it started a nonprofit, we're up and going. And that's to that's basically to design to allow high school athletes, coaches, programs, athletic departments, schools, families, the resources to keep leadership and character at the forefront.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

It's to help, especially now. So, like um, we dropped the Carl Kiefer, we we posted the young men that we selected for, and then we put it on social media, and the community outreach in Awatuki has doubled because people haven't moved from their homes and they remember. And so you were so and they remember. So now you you you you were in Tippi Union High School District, right? The people have not moved. They've been there since Kiefer has coached. They're now golfing, they're now retired, and then now you have something that they can relate to. So now, sir, hey, after you get done golfing at the at the golf resort, come to the game, man. Or come come watch us scrimmage, come watch us practice, be a part of our high school again, the way it was before. And see, those are the type of things that uh I was that when I was growing up and I was visiting my friends Dion and Marcus Jones and stuff like that, like they had no problem, man, going down to the hero shop off of Elliott Road, and everybody's like, oh, that's the Mountain Point kid. You see what I'm saying? And like, like it's gotten lost in translation. I know there's been an influx of people in the community, but me coming from Casagran, I don't know how you could have a successful program if the surrounding area is not connected to that program. Like, I don't know how, I don't know how that happens. And so to me, right, like we're gonna honor Kiefer, we're gonna honor Vaughn, we're gonna honor the guys that did it. And and and my boys are gonna know about that because that gives them a base to where they know that it could get back there again. But it ain't gonna get back there again unless you have the same characteristics, not physically, but characterly, like moral-wise. Like you gotta have those same characteristics or it ain't never gonna happen. It can't be, oh, uh, I it's gotta be guaranteed that I start, Coach, because I need these offers or I'm transferring. Nope. That ain't gonna work. That that didn't get it, uh, that didn't get Kiefer where he was at. That didn't get his teams where he was at, that didn't get Bond that state championship. Like, that's not gonna work. And right now, they're there, I feel like we're at a crossroads in the profession because you have head coaches that have been like me and yourself that have been taught a certain way, and we're standing here, and then you have guys that are sitting on the other side that is purely transactional, and you're not setting up your guys for success. And what happens is as soon as they go to play collegiate football and everything is not aligned, daddy cannot um politic your way into a start, a starting job, you're cut after one semester, and now you're calling that same head coach, hey man, can you call somebody else? I need an opportunity because I need an opportunity. No, set them up for success. How many times you transfer is your credit score? Yes. How many times, you know what I mean? Like, like those are your credit scores. Who did you beat out in your high school career to get your starting job? What type of adversity have you hit? No, you've been going to camp since you're six years old, and dad's politics your way to this position that doesn't work at the PowerFour level. And before you tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, I come from a family of guys that have done it, not just me. You know what I mean? So it's like it's it's crazy. Like it's nuts. So it's like we gotta get, um, and I know I said a lot, but but but my thing, my thing here at Mount Point is re-establish some tradition, teach them where they come from so that we can, you know, have the best chance to succeed moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

Yeah, no, it's it's interesting that you talked about transactional coaches because I do every once in a while I'll do a round table with like, you know, four of us where we get on here. And and I I when the first round table I did was with Deshaun Burns, who's a head football coach at Linfield Christian in the Temecula area. Um played at SC. I played with him at SC. Oscar McBride played at Notre Dame. He's the head coach. Now he's at Bishop Montgomery. Um, he was at Mer Murrietta Mesa at the time. And then Corey Minor, who played at Notre Dame, is the head coach at Bishop Ahmad. So you got two SC guys, two Notre Dame guys going at it. But Deshaun brought up, we were talking about how you make a difference. And Deshaun brought up you have to be, it's transformational versus transactional. Are you a transformational coach or are you a transactional coach? And he specifically talked about what you just said, and then we went around for probably 15 minutes. And man, now that thing, that thing blew up. You know, it just the conversation blew up because, like you said, you got guys that we're at a crossroads, and we have guys over here that are transformational coaches, each and everything that make a difference and make sure you know your history and make sure you're working on leadership and character and all that kind of stuff. Then you got transactional guys that, you know, hey, I'm here to win, so I'm not gonna have a relationship with you. It'll be very distant and blah, blah, blah. And, you know, that's why, honestly, coach, that's why I started this podcast because I felt like things were being lost. There were things that I should have done as a head coach that I didn't do and I didn't have the systems to do it. That's why I've created that LLC. But more importantly, I started the podcast to keep leadership and character and development at the forefront. And, you know, you jumped on here, and one of the first things you said was, those kids have to know that you love them. And I'm not kidding when I say this is, I think, episode 85 in a year. And of the 85 people on here, probably, you know, 80 of them have been coaches. We've had some leadership and some mindset people. And of those 80 coaches, probably 75 75 of those 80s have talked about the same thing. You have to, you have to love your players. Um so final question for you. Um What kind of advice would you would you give to you know, younger coaches that are coming up through the ranks? Um what kind of leadership advice would you give them as far as how to live how to live their life to a standard that the kids that you come in contact with can really learn and grow and pull from and see. I know that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

I think you need to I think you need to realize coming into coaching that you're a teacher first. Um the first thing you need to do is you need to do a gut check, especially if you're a good collegiate player or professional player, and you need to realize that it's over. It's over. And that what you did is just is just gonna help you get your foot in the door. If you're a good collegiate player, you get to crack the door open. If you're if you're a professional player, sometimes you can knock it open halfway or knock knock it down completely. But now you're gonna be graded on how well of a teacher you are. So from there on out, if I can teach, if I can tell young John Roberts anything, is study how to become an effective teacher. Study how to find ways to connect with people, numerous different ways. And that, and you have to understand that this is not a one-size-fits-all type situation. Um find philosophies that you love, but never find, never fall in love with one strategy, either offensively or defensively. The worst thing that I ever did was fall in love with Air Raid. Then I fell in love with Wing T. Then I fell in love with the hybrids that were coming out. And I'm sitting back here like, no, no, no, no, no. And then I had a quarterback, Hispanic, five foot nine, one seventy, could run like the wind, he could only throw a deep ball. And so then I had to go, and one of my buddies at the time, um, he was um a coach at uh Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at the time when they were running the triple option, and I Just sat in the clinic with him and I was like, oh, snap, your starting quarterback at college looks like an older version of what I have at home. And he taught me midline and beer and all this stuff. And I'm like, so we implemented it. And then after that, I was like, oh, I gotta know everything because I don't know what's coming. And then, you know, the third thing is that once you get yourself to a certain level, and um, what's your plan for these kids? And what I mean by that is if your plan is to get kids offers and you have not set them up for success, there is a high chance that you're that that those kids that won you a championship, that got you to the playoffs, that got all the media telling you you're the greatest thing since sliced bread, and that and that you're the next Nick Saban here in Arizona High School football, your kids are gonna be home in a semester or a year. Like, what do you do about that? So now, guess what? Learn how to bond with them. This is my opinion. You learn, you get the bond, you show them that you love them, and your entire process should be to set them up so that guess what? When they could when they call, hey, Coach Smith, man, you know, I'm fourth on the depth chart, um, I'm not getting any reps, I want to transfer, I'm ready to go. And you and the first thing you say is, well, who's ahead of you? Well, they're both seniors. Are they signing any more kids? No, uh, they just said I gotta wait till spring ball. Then you got two more months of your red shirt, son. Don't quit. Keep going. You remember when we went through this, your junior year? Yeah. Son, I love you. You're gonna be okay, man. Just get through it. A year later, he's starting at, you know, U of A or ASU Stadium, right? Or some other college, and he's thriving. But if the whole premise was, I'm getting you because I could get you 20 offers, you ain't taught him nothing. And now when he gets there, he's coming home, and that's a reflection of you. There's numerous high schools here in the valley that get these kids offers and get them out, and you don't ever hear about them graduating with degrees or even hitting the pros. So are you really setting them up for success? Because guess what? They'll get the skill training at the next level, but you were in charge of that character development to show them how it's gonna be at the next level. Giving them offers, fine. But they're coming home in a year. That's a reflection of that high school's head coach. I don't care what what is being spoken. You're right. 100%. You know what I mean? So, and and I know, man, I've been taught by uh what's considered old school, man, but guess what? My uncle Rennie didn't go home. Um, Schmicke didn't go home, Scooter Sprout didn't go home, Bobby Wade never went home.

SPEAKER_01 46:43

No.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

You know what, though that when you talk to their high school head coaches, they're all legends in the game. Real ones. Like real ones that you go to the high school hall of fame, and guess what, man? They were taught things by their high school head coaches that didn't have the uh, that, that, that weren't contingent upon potential NIL value or scholarship offers. I want my kids to have all of that, right? But I also want my kids to know that when you go to college and resets, it's gonna get extremely hard. Whether you get the money or not, as soon as everybody gets used to each other, they're recruiting another kid to replace you. You have to work hard. Like, it's not like, hey, man, you know, um You got it made.

SPEAKER_01 47:27

100%. No such thing. Yeah. Well, Big Doug, I appreciate you, coach. Anytime, man.

SPEAKER_00 47:34

When you come back to Arizona, man, we gotta get together, brother. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Yeah, uh it'll be in about three weeks, uh moving back. Okay. So um Coach John Robbins.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

Catch up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

I'd love to, but coach, thank you so much, man. Great insight. Uh just hang on for a quick sec, okay? But thank you. No problem.